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David Baird:
Why do we read fiction, or better yet, why do we write it?
Maybe the squiggles, metaphors for real psychic structures, that other people craft into artistic
narratives, or maybe the squiggles resultant of our own life's narratives, maybe all these words we
use and think about are really good for more than "real" discussions between people or "realistic"
characterization in fiction - maybe manipulating ideas (or playing with yourself on paper), or being
manipulated by your favorite author, actually helps you know yourself, and see the world in truer
perspective, not because we "consciously" know what's going on any more than we did before
reading or writing that particular sequence of squiggles but because the mere process of
experiencing or reacting text is enough to let you "leave it behind" and move on to more
sophisticated, funny, applicable realtime excursions.
David Baird:
More specifically, since we are all unique, each person's "reading" of text will be as different as
their "writing" of a text. I'm pretty behind in the reading, so I can't give you examples from this
course, but it seems that the study of fictional characterization, or the experience of humanity on
planet earth, is not merely applicable to any text or person in question but to all of us as a whole.
There are no characters, only character, so our analysis of a situation is most connected to our own
theoretical underpinnings.
I hope to eventually share my theories with you in connection with texts you have read, for it is the
writer's lonely task to mess with the perceptions of the reader.
David Baird:
In terms of sex, a natural need of electrochemical organisms, we might ask how our own
individual personalities have been shaped by family, school, or culture. The texts we read now
may still have an impact on our consciousness, although it seems that early childhood influences
are strongest.
Even if someone could explicate a natural and loving way of life, would this "knowledge" of how
some people live their lives be a true revelation - that is, can we really get well by trying?